![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎724v] (1465/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1481.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎724v] (1465/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [724v] (1465/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
390
PERSIA
Illi robur et ses triplex
Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci
Commisit pelago ratem
Primus, nec timuit prcecipitem Africum
Decertantem Aquilonibus,
ISTec tristes Hyadas, nec rabiem Noti. 1
Hafiz and Abdur Rezak were no unfair examples of their
countrymen. In the Caspian Sea navigation by Persians was
unknown. In the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
it was entirely in the hands of the
Arab tribes, who had crossed over from the Arabian mainland, and
colonised the entire maritime border of Iran. They were as
venturesome as the Persians were timid; from the eighth to the
sixteenth century they retained the trade of the seas, and their
merchant fleets penetrated to India, to Ceylon, to the Malay
Peninsula, and to China; even to this very day the native naviga
tion of the Gulf is in their hands. When that sea was thrown
open to European vessels, by the discovery of Yasco da Gama, and
the buccaneering expeditions of Alfonso d’Albuquerque, it was
into European and not into Persian hands that the entire commerce
fell; and the successive monopolies of Portugal, Holland, and
Great Britain will be related in another chapter. So utterly
deficient were the Persians in any naval capacities, that when
Shah Abbas wanted to possess himself of the mercantile emporium
of Ormuz, only a few miles from the mainland, then held by the
Portuguese, he was compelled to invoke the aid of the British, to
undertake the maritime part of the engagement.
It is no mean testimony to the genius of Nadir Shah, and to
the wide range of his ambition, that, while for a brief moment he
Maritime elevated Persia to the rank of the first m ilitary power in
ambitions A * l i n in • ^ 1
of Nadir Asia, ne also dreamed of creating naval resources, which
i.^The should ensure her dominion over the shores of both the
Caspian northern and the southern seas, i.e. over the Caspian and
the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
. On the former waters he was fortunate in
securing the services of an able and adventurous Englishman, John
Elton, whose career, as told by his fellow factor Jonas Han way, is
one of the most dramatic episodes of the time. Elton had gone
out to Persia in 1739 in the employ of the British Moscovy, or
Russian Tiading Company, who had decided, mainly on his initia
tive, upon reopening the overland trade with Persia vid Moscow
Horace, Carm., Lib. I. iii.
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About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [724v] (1465/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000042> [accessed 4 June 2026]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain